The W32/Sobig.F
worm seems to be creating transient email logjams all
over the net today. Even though we're running Linux and not
directly affected by the worm, we've seen a lot of really
strange email traffic the last couple of days. Periods of no
email at all will be followed by a huge burst of traffic as
if the mail servers at other ISPs are alternately crashing
from the load then being restarted.

Robots

Tuesday evenings these days are being spent at the DPRG
warehouse, helping with network administration and doing
robot-related software work. The debate about what to call
the warehouse continues. I'm still in favor of just the
"DPRG warehouse" or maybe the "DPRG lab" but a few folks
prefer calling it the "clubhouse". That word brings to mind
old episodes of The Little Rascals more than cutting
edge robotics. Meanwhile, we held the vote for moving the
DPRG to an official 501(c)(3) non-profit group and it
passed. So we'll be working on getting the final tweaks to
some new bylaws and other documents soon.

The Pacman OS

I ran across a Freshmeat.net announcement for Alpaca
today. Alpaca is a multitasking OS that runs on Z-80 based
Packman arcade boxes. Probably useless but it has a very
high cool factor.

Time for an etoy-style SCO counter-attack?

This whole SCO thing
is just getting out of hand. I'd like to see a much more
organized opposition to SCO. The attempt by SCO and their
lawyers to lay claim to code that isn't theirs is very much
like the attempt by etoys.com to lay claim to the etoy art
group's domain. The etoy
counter-attack came very close to putting the company out of business
and forced them to drop their lawsuit. Imagine a site that
could act as a command and control center, organizing a
counter attack against SCO designed to put them out of
business. Planners could develop attacks which might include
convincing SCO employees to quit, educating SCO ISVs and
customers about better alternative products, organizing
protests that coincided with SCO marketing events, and
providing information like 800 numbers and fax numbers of
SCO offices for those who wished to express their opinions
to SCO directly. Volunteers could sign up for specific tasks
and report back on the results.